Winter in the Southern Highlands

Nicki Dobrzynski

Between the arrival of our second child, and a serious health crisis for one of my immediate family members, it sure has been a full on first half of 2017. Unfortunately it has left me with very little time for website updates, so I hope you will understand and forgive me for things being a little quiet here?! In any case, this is a little of what we’ve been up to over autumn and winter.

Being at home with a newborn and recovering from surgery has meant I’ve been in the kitchen a little more than usual of late. Sometimes making the most basic of meals and sometimes refining my baking skills and trying out new recipes. Often with failure, but sometimes with great success. Like this delicious Ruby Grapefruit Sponge which I came up with after we had a surplus of delicious ruby red grapefruits and had to take something to a girlfriends Christmas in July dinner. You can find the recipe here.

I find winter is also the time for comfort food, and while I do love a good, slow cooked stew, I equally love a simple but rich pasta dish, like Gnocchi Gorgonzola, or Emiko Davies pasta al limone. It’s simple, quick, and yet totally delicious and indulgent. Perfect with a nice glass of white wine on a Monday night when you don’t feel like cooking anything too complex or challenging. I used fettucine but I think it ideally works best with linguine or spaghetti.

Along with cooking and baking, I also love changing up the decor at home and making things warmer and cosier for the winter months. I raided my cushion collection and swapped out some of the blues cushion covers for warmer, burnt amber accents.

I’m going to paint our vintage wicker chairs black soon and also swap out the coffee table for a tan leather ottoman as we’re the kind of family that like to put our feet up and relax, plus I’m slowly re-baby proofing the house and attempting to reduce sharp edges so a tufted ottoman is ideal. I’ll keep you updated with those changes soon!